New York Times – Barry Meier – new story on Clare Bronfman – The Journey of the ‘Sex Cult’ Heiress: From Reluctant Recruit to Criminal Defendant

Readers of Frank Report may not find much new in the story – but most, I think, will be delighted by the way Barry lays down his story about the heiress who destroyed the lives of many – and now very likely destroyed herself – by following The Vanguard.

In his latest story, Meier gives readers an intriguing glimpse into what likely happened to Clare Bronfman and her descent into depravity.

Although I know the Clare Bronfman story fairly well, I learned about one new vignette – a rather repulsive one – from the story:

“In the summer of 2013, with his health failing, the billionaire businessman Edgar M. Bronfman was visited at home by his youngest daughter, Clare. She brought with her a production crew that was making a film about a self-help group called Nxivm.

“Mr. Bronfman, the former chairman of Seagram Company, had long clashed with Clare and her sister Sara over their lavish financial support of the group. A decade earlier, they had given $65 million of his liquor fortune to its leader, Keith Raniere — money that he promptly lost in the commodities market. … Forbes published a critical article about Mr. Raniere in which Mr. Bronfman described Nxivm as a “cult.”

“But Clare Bronfman had not come on that day in 2013 to make peace with her father, who died later that year. Instead, she pressed him to admit on camera that he had been wrong to criticize Mr. Raniere, said a former Nxivm official who was present at the meeting.

“‘He was very sick,’ said the official, Mark Vicente. ‘He appeared to be very saddened by her questioning.’”

***

That vignette in the Times article sums up Clare in a nutshell. Her father had only months to live. It is said he was despondent on his very death bed about his daughter’s involvement in this cult.

Shortly before he died – instead of going to see him in love and with honor – she comes with a camera to elicit, to pressure a confession out of a weak and dying old man – for Raniere’s benefit – trying to get her father to say on camera that he was wrong about Raniere.

So extremely selfish.

I wonder if Clare confessed to her father that she hacked into his computer – for Raniere. [Clare was indicted last month. Although it does not say it in the indictment – her lawyer, Susan Necheles, admitted in a bail memo – that among Clare’s alleged criminal acts was hacking into her father’s computer.]

On December 14, 2017 – four years after her father died – and before Keith was arrested, Clare made a statement on her website defending Keith [who was then experiencing a fair amount of adverse publicity at the time.] She mentions how Keith helped her cope with her father’s death.

She wrote, Keith Raniere “is a dear friend who has and continues to help me through the difficult decisions and painful moments in my life, including my father’s illness and eventual death.”

The hypocrisy is stunning. Keith ruined her relationship with her father, plundered her inheritance from him, got her to spy on him, caused him heartbreak on his deathbed, and much, much worriment over the years, and she gives Keith – who caused all this – credit for helping her cope with her father’s death.

About the author

Reporter

43 Comments

This is what one becomes when one follows a cult led by an alleged sociopath enamored with the philosophy of Ayn Rand. In the latter it is even called the “virtue” of selfishness. They ameliorate the term to justify their behavior instead of rectifying their behavior to conform to what the actual meaning of the term has meant for centuries. After all, they have the perfect model in the VanFraud. Upside down has now become right-side up in a philosophy that laughably claims the word objectivism.

So according to their own philosophy these people should adhere to the “virtue” of selfishness and save themselves from fines and jail time and turn their back on their VanFraud. But the VanFraud has convinced his “sheeple” with nothing more than special pleading that this contradictory principle effectively doesn’t apply to others with respect to him him even though he himself lives by it and applies it to others.

Clare at her daddy’s deathbed, trying to wheedle a change of mind from him for Keith pretty much sums what this evil woman is. A demonic entity. Idk if she was ever human. I suppose there was a time when she was young, before she sold her soul.

Barry Meier’s story mentions that Mark Vicente was there when Clare tried to get her dying father to admit that he was wrong about NXIVM being a cult – which reminded me that Vicente worked on all sorts of documentaries for the cult. Is he ever going to release these or is he planning on turning them into some sort of project?

If Kristin was talked into being a money mule once or twice (maybe even not knowing what she was transporting) then she could be manipulated to keep doing that or other things, (like not leave or not speak out) for fear of criminal culpability.

But on the doubting side: Do you or anyone actually know KK drove “every week from Vancouver to Tacoma?” Also, “every week” for how many weeks? It seems doubtful that a working actress would have so much free time, and a popular celebrity coaching so many classes would be known to hundreds of people…not just you.

– “If Kristin was talked into being a money mule once or twice (maybe even not knowing what she was transporting) then she could be manipulated to keep doing that or other things, (like not leave or not speak out) for fear of criminal culpability.”

How could she not know if she had a huge amount of money with her? As for being “manipulated”, nobody forced her to drive every week for four hours to get to the Tacoma branch. Again, she could of flown for one hour. Easier, faster and affordable. Instead she drove for four hours.

– “But on the doubting side: Do you or anyone actually know KK drove “every week from Vancouver to Tacoma?””

Yes.

– “Also, “every week” for how many weeks? It seems doubtful that a working actress would have so much free time, and a popular celebrity coaching so many classes would be known to hundreds of people…not just you”.

Her being on the television did not stop her from being a top NXIVM coach. She would of been recognised while coaching and that is partly how she helped combat the negative press the cult received. How can it be a cult if a television actress coaches for them?

Kreuk continued to coach, at least in Albany and in Los Angeles, even while filming her show Beauty and the Beast that she got in 2012. She ignored the Feb 2012 Times Union expose that exposed Keith Raniere as a paedophile. After breaking up with her boyfriend Mark Hildreth in 2013, she moved full time to Toronto where the show was filmed and she allegedly left the cult at the time. However, she did continue to be a supporter of the cult.

By that same logic, then neither is Mark Vicente, Sarah Edmondson, or any other former member of NXIVM who taught courses.

So you might as well throw out all of their testimony against NXIVM.

– KK is not a nice, kind, sweet, or ethical person.

Other people think she is.

– Just because a person plays a character on TV, that does not mean they are like that character.

This is true, but none of what you said proves that she is not nice, kind, sweet, nor ethical.

Aren’t you that lawyer Omar Rosales? Weren’t you fined or barred from practicing law for ethical reasons, and don’t you have legal claims against you in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars? I would take any statement made by you about others being kind, sweet, or ethical with a grain of salt.

Nothing wrong with my law license Scarom. You can check the State of Texas Bar website. I am in perfect standing. In Texas, there is Attorney immunity – attorneys cannot be held liable for any legal fees associated from a case where they were representing a client. And why are you trying to change the subject?

Sorry to burst your Bubble and Fantasy about Kristin Kook. She is not a nice person, and has never been a nice person. You cannot put actors on a pedestal, because they play a role on television.

KK recruited dozens of females into NXIVM with Jness. Her business Girls by Design was her NXIVM project (we were all encouraged to start ethical businesses based on NXIVM principles) and funneled more young women into Keith’s bed. KK recruited her close friends Allison Mack, Sima Kumar, Kendra Voth, and others.

Don’t believe me? Contact Kendra Voth and find out for yourself. Ask her, who recruited her into NXIVM

– Sorry to burst your Bubble and Fantasy about Kristin Kook. She is not a nice person, and has never been a nice person.

How would you know? Have you dealt with her? Do you have a list of people who have interacted with her willing to go on the record to vouche for your description of her?

On the other hand, I’ve read through a number of comments from friends and co-workers vouching for a characterization of her that is in stark contrast to yours, in articles online and in magazines, video interviews, etc., and on Twitter in response to her statement explaining her involvement with NXIVM which she still has up on her verified Twitter and Instagram accounts. Anyone who has an account for those web applications can still read them.

Michael Rosenbaum even recently tweeted “I love this woman” in response to a picture of Kristin that was tweeted by a fan of hers.

– You cannot put actors on a pedestal, because they play a role on television.

Why do some people attempt to cast onto someone an unwarranted extreme position to poison the well with respect to their objectivity? Just because someone is an actor or some other highly regarded status position doesn’t mean the person who is defending them is putting them on a pedestal and suddenly can’t discern the evidence.

– KK recruited dozens of females into NXIVM with Jness.

Again for the hundreth (hyperbole) time I’ve asked, please provide a list of all the dozens of females Kristin recruited into NXIVM. I have asked for this information a number of times in the comments to different posts on this website by people who have made this claim and have never received anything remotely backing this up.

– Her business Girls by Design was her NXIVM project (we were all encouraged to start ethical businesses based on NXIVM principles)

And? What is wrong with an ethical business?

Regardless, no it was not her “NXIVM project”. It was her own and her business partner Kendra Voth’s attempt at creating a business of their own. She likely used the skills she learned in NXIVM as a company that professes to teach courses about executive success to help her create it. But it was never a part of NXIVM and so could not be considered a “NXIVM project”.

– and funneled more young women into Keith’s bed.

This is a horsecrap and empty claim based on nothing more than her being labelled as a recruiter for NXIVM. I now consider such an allegation bordering on libel.

That’s your list? The involvement of these women is already well known. There is also Suzanne Gomez, a SVP of Publicity at CW, who took a course or more. Only Allison became heavily involved and remains and none of them were recruited as young women.

– Don’t believe me? Contact Kendra Voth and find out for yourself. Ask her, who recruited her into NXIVM

I already know she did as Kendra was listed as a recruit by Kristin on the NXIVM coaches list posted on John Tighe’s blog re-posted here. This is very old news. Sima, Kendra, and Suzanne are still friends with Kristin so I’m not sure how this is supposed to support anything you’ve claimed. The only one who may not be considered such is Allison and she went off the deep end on her own a long time ago.

You’re a practicing lawyer? If you provided any of this “evidence” in a court of law and rested your case you would likely be laughed out of the courtroom.

Dude do you even know what the definition of money laundering is? Even if she took cash across the border which there is no evidence for, that doesn’t make it “money laundering”. Look up what the phrase means.

Also, were coaches in NXIVM even paid? Or was it just voluntary work they did convinced by the mission of NXIVM? Were they employees of the company and got W-2s – highly unlikely since that would require them to periodically report a portion of income paid to them to state and federal tax agencies as state, federal, and FICA taxes to them with each paycheck. Or were they independent contractors paid by the corporation? If it is the latter, NXIVM is still responsible for reporting the income they paid to the IRS, but the contractor is responsible for paying taxes on it.

You’ve repeated these claims against Kristin at least a half-a-dozen times as comments on this website as mere speculation.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it most likely is a duck.

So you’re telling me that you’re that anonymous lurker as this is the first time you’ve ever posted this content just happened to conform with what had been posted already multiple times?

If some anonymous unregistered lurker takes over another anonymous unregistered person’s post content with their own bullshit and says the same things there is no way to distinguish between them on this forum, so whatever assumption I made is more likely than one of those said anonymous posters saying they aren’t the same person.

Anonymous, your wasting your time. Do you know who you are dealing with?
The sultan is a self admitted Kristen K perv/stalker. There are many of us on this site who know this just from reading his posts. The little perv is in denial that she did anything wrong the same way he is in denial of how many of us know he is a perv/stalker, and his feeble little brain wants to lump us all together so he can imagine everyone that is wise to him are all one person. Anyone who has been on this blog for any good length of time would know this. A past poster called him beetlejuice because anytime KK’s name is mentioned he comes out of nowhere. He often posts under different names on this site but it’s not hard to figure out. Don’t piss him off, he will cry like a baby and start berating you like a spoiled rotten 5 year old brat.

You ain’t fooling anyone. You’re the one who is obsessed with me. Otherwise you wouldn’t continuously call me out directly or indirectly in your repetitive posts that deal with the same subject matter.

If I did what you did and posted under a hundred different aliases not using something common that you could know or could do a search for on Google to know who I am, you wouldn’t have anything to say against me.

But you’re a little pussy who uses his anonymity to pretend he doesn’t care when in fact he actually really, really does.

Frank, it occurs to me that Clare might not have been hypocritical when she said Raniere helped her “through the difficult decisions and painful moments in [her] life, including [her] father’s illness and eventual death.” From Clare’s point of view, her father died an unrepentant sinner, an apostate to the teachings of The Great and Holy Vanguard. This would be akin to how a fundamentalist would view the death of a loved one who refused to join her church or follow its teachings. As bizarre as the business about the camera men is, and as incongruous as Clare’s statement about her father seems, it makes sense in a weird, cultish way. Like you said, this is what a cult does to a person.

Interesting viewpoint. I think it could also be that Raniere encouraged continued estrangement even in the face of her father’s death. He trains people to disassociate from their own emotions, and he demands that his devotees work to vindicate him whenever someone else acts/speaks against him. In a twisted way, that blockade of emotion might “help” someone through difficult times. The “vindicate Vanguard at all costs” lends a sense of heroism even when their acts are destructive.

If any if them manage to break out of their own mental/emotional prisons, I believe most of Raniere’s close associates will be wracked with guilt over what they have done to their loved ones in Raniere’s name. I think many will not be able to break free simply because it will be too horrific to face their own culpability. And perhaps the greatest suicide threat is when they finally stop drinking the koolaid. When an idealist who wanted to make the world a better place realizes they have been used to destroy people – the “what have I done” must be devastating.

And then again, some of them were probably just closet psychopaths to begin with.

Cruella Bronfman is a female Grinch who could not even allow her father a dignified death.
Instead of enjoying her great good fortune Cruella had to grift herself into an even bigger fortune by suing anyone and everyone.
Anyone who crossed her was targeted for legal harassment.
Clare even tried to sue giant corporations like A,T & T and Microsot with bogus law suits in order to extort money out of these corporations.
And Cruella might have framed John Tighe for a crime he did not commit.

And now most of Cruella’s fortune has been frittered away.

And according to recent news stories Cruella has been involved in other crimes like money laundering and perhaps even human trafficking.
Now Cruella and her gang of sociopaths are in the dock.

What would be an appropriate punishment for Cruella and her gang of crazed con artists?
What did they do in the good old days to people like Cruella and Sara and the Salzmans and Mr. and Mrs. Mack and Keith Raniere?

Shadowstate keeps on posting about Allison Mack again and again and again and again and again…

– “Cue “Anonymous”: I wonder if anyone will recognize who I am, now that I post under a new name? LOL.”

There have been a few commentators here who have annoyed other readers. There was that Scott guy. He finishes every comment with “LOL”. That weird Kristin Kreuk superfan. Shadowstate annoys some readers. If you are not that Scott guy, you are that KK nut.

There’s an obvious conceptual difference between many people who post without a name being tagged as anonymous, and the same person intentionally taking on a multitude of aliases inclusive of being tagged with the anonymous one.

No. I try to deal with people on an individual basis and not stereotype based on their religion, race, gender, etc. One of my good friends from high school who I still keep in contact with via Facebook is a Jewish atheist, and I graduated high school a long time ago in what I feel was a much better time.

Also, I’m not Arab and hence not a Semite, and the vast majority of Jews that exist in the world today are not Semites either but Ashkenzites, like Clare and Sara Bronfman and Nancy and Lauren Salzman most likely are.